44. The “Sarcophagus of the Spouses”,

Cerveteri, Etruscan, c. 520-510 B.C.E.

Polychrome terracotta, clay, slip, paint,

modelling and moulding, 111 x 194 x 69 cm.

Musée du Louvre, Paris.

 

 

This exceptional monument is a sarcophagus or cinerary urn from Caere, a city famous during the Archaic period for its clay sculpture. During this epoch terracotta was one of the preferred materials in the sculpture workshops in this region and was used to make funerary monuments and architectural decorations. The ductility of the clay offered these artisans numerous possibilities, compensating for the lack of stone suitable in southern Etruria.

 

This particular monument was found in 1861 by Napoleon III and is often regarded as a sarcophagus because of its exceptional dimensions. It features the two deceased tenderly entwined, reclining on a bed in accordance with the style that originated in Asia Minor. They are making the ritual gesture of offering perfume that, along with the sharing of wine, was part of traditional funeral ceremony. The casket and lid are decorated with bright paintwork, now partially disappeared, that adds to the elegance of the ornaments as well as the details in the fabric and the hair. The style of this particular sculpture shows strong influence from Eastern Greece, particularly from the Ionians, which can be seen from the smiling faces and full forms of the two figures, but there are also very prominent Etruscan features such as the lack of formal coherence, the way the legs received less sculptural volume and the emphasis on the gestures of the deceased.